Follow UsMelbourne Stars’ journey in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2024-25 has been nothing short of a sporting miracle, reminding cricket fans of the Mumbai Indians syndrome. This term was coined after the Indian Premier League (IPL) side made a habit of reaching the playoffs after losing a lot at the start of the season.
Stars, who started the BBL 2024-25 with five straight losses, never seemed like reaching the Finals (the BBL playoffs are called the Finals). However, they started the turnaround with the new year when they beat the Brisbane Heat by five wickets.
Since then, they won the next four matches, including their final league stage game against table toppers Hobart Hurricanes, quite comfortably by 40 runs on January 19 (Sunday) to reach the Finals.
Had the Stars not won the last match, they would not have been able to reach the Finals as they were lagging in the net run rate compared to now fifth-placed Perth Scorchers.
Mumbai Indians, not once but in three seasons—2014, 2015, and 2018—managed to reach the playoffs after losing at least five out of their first six games. In IPL 2014, in fact, they managed to reach the playoffs after losing their first five games, just like how the Stars have done this season in BBL.
However, they were not able to reach the final in 2014 but lifted the trophy in 2015. It would be interesting to see if the team with star players like Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Beau Webster could do better than Mumbai or not.